Can Descartes claim that he has an immediate, unmediated, non-inferential perception of himself?

In opposition to Descartes, David Hume says that whenever he tries to perform the Cogito, he has no certain consciousness of himself…

“ For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I call myself I always stumble on some particular perception or other, heat or cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch myself at any time without a perception, and never can observe anything but the perception.” ( Treatise , I,iv,6)

Match the statements below to Descartes’ text in your handout. They are not in the right order…

Descartes points out that if all of the sensory properties of the melted wax are quite different to the solid wax, we cannot know through our senses that it is the same wax.

Descartes takes a really good common example of something that people think they know about through their senses – wax. He lists its sensory properties – all are really obvious ones.

Descartes’ conclusion is that even bodies, material things, are really known certainly only by the mind alone .

Next Descartes reminds us that wax melts and all of its physical properties change really easily. But we’d still know it was the same wax. How?

So if the wax isn’t ultimately known through the senses – or the imagination – then what’s the alternative? The wax must ultimately be known to us by the mind alone.

We might say that we ‘see’ wax (or the TV, or a friend), but really what’s going on when we see things is that we are using our mind’s power of rational judgement to rationally assess confusing sensations (we actually see a cloak and a hat going past outside our window, for example, but we rationally conclude that there is a person there).

Descartes takes a really good common example of something that people think they know about through their senses – wax. He lists its sensory properties – all are really obvious ones.

Next Descartes reminds us that wax melts and all of its physical properties change really easily. But we’d still know it was the same wax. How?

Descartes points out that if all of the sensory properties of the melted wax are quite different to the solid wax, we cannot know through our senses that it is the same wax.

We might say that we ‘see’ wax (or the TV, or a friend), but really what’s going on when we see things is that we are using our mind’s power of rational judgement to rationally assess confusing sensations (we actually see a cloak and a hat going past outside our window, for example, but we rationally conclude that there is a person there).

So if the wax isn’t ultimately known through the senses – or the imagination – then what’s the alternative? The wax must ultimately be known to us by the mind alone.

Descartes’ conclusion is that even bodies, material things, are really known certainly only by the mind alone .